Government Gourmet Soup Kitchens

USDA intends to offer state agencies greater local control over SNAP, the safety net program that serves millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families, the department said in a statement. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

Like most people, I like a gourmet meal once in a while. What I really would like is for someone to buy me a gourmet meal. But that will never happen as you and me, the taxpayers, seldom treat ourselves to gourmet meals. However, we buy gourmet meals for people we have never met. America. What a country?

SNAP benefits now exceed $100 billion annually while they service more than 50 million people. Some are not citizens, and none are taxpayers. The amount of SNAP food stamps a household gets depends on the household's size, income, and expenses. For most of its history, the program used paper-denominated "stamps" or coupons. Now it utilizes a specialized debit card system known as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) whose benefits are directly deposited into the household's EBT card account. Households may use EBT to pay for food at supermarkets, convenience stores, and other food retailers, including certain farmers' markets. 16 Gift Shops. America. What a country?

The Tale of Two Gourmet Diners: An Upscale Scam

Buying gourmet food is the new scam, but rather than bore you with drivel and statistics, the Muckster will give you “real life evidence” of how corrupt this government program is are and how it is turning America into a socialist country with bogus “safety net” programs.

Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric. After gathering ingredients for that evening’s dinner, they walked to the cash register and awaited their moments of truth.

'I have $80 bucks left!' Magida said. “I’m so happy!” 'I have $12,' Mak said with a frown...

The two friends weren’t tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for what are still known colloquially as food stamps.

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Leaflet Encourages Illegal Immigrants to Get Food Stamps. In the face of more than 74 billion U.S. dollars of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan (SNAP), the new rules will likely lead smaller retailers such as gas stations and street convenience stores to compete with retail giants such as Wal-Mart.

Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits. She applied for food stamps and she’s used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house in Hampden, and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away. America. What a country?

I’m eating better than I ever have before.

Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore. About half of his friends in Baltimore are getting food stamps. He qualified for $200 a month.

I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.

America, home of the free stuff and land of the naïve. What a country?

The use has gone way up in the last six months,” said Eric Wilcox, a cashier who has worked at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco for 10 years. “We’re seeing a lot more young people in their 20s purchasing organic food with food stamp cards. I wouldn’t say it’s limited to hipster people, but I’m certainly surprised to see them with cards.

Young urbanites with a taste for ciabatta may legitimately be among the new poor, but many taxpayers think this is laziness and irresponsibility. Many are seething with fury at those who maintain the trappings of a materialistic, cosmopolitan, Perrier lifestyle while using an Electronic Benefit Transfer card.

While one person works their butt off, another is waiting in line to receive their ‘luxury’ food stamps to buy whatever they want.

Josh Ankerberg, a 26-year-old who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., started getting food stamps a year ago as an AmeriCorps volunteer, a group that has long had special dispensation to qualify for them. America. What a country?

At Magida’s brick row house in Baltimore, she and Mak minced garlic while observing that one of the upsides of unemployment was having plenty of time to cook elaborate meals, and that among their friends, they had let go of any bad feelings about how their food was procured. America. What a country?

Big Bureaucracy Creates Big Deceit

Americans receiving food stamps were caught selling and bartering their benefits online for art, housing and cash, according to a new federal report that investigates fraud in the nation’s largest nutrition support program. Most states have trouble tracking crime because their enforcement budgets have been slashed because the funds are now going into this program. Rapid program growth increases the potential for fraud unless appropriate agency controls are in place to help minimize these risks. America. What a country?

Allegations of fraud and abuse have long-plagued SNAP and have been used by lawmakers in Washington to argue that the program has spiraled out of control.

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Stay tuned. The Muckster has more socialist fraud coming in future articles. It will take a majority of the 320 million American citizens to “Drain the American Swamp.” The Muckster will continue to keep an eye open and an ear to the ground to keep my readers informed. I am here to lead you out of the slimy past and into a bright future with 20/20: A Clear Vision for Our future. You are my inspiration. Be a part of the narrative.

My call to action to create honesty and integrity whereas citizens realize government is the hindrance, not the answer to a bright future for their children.

The Gift with the Perfect Message

The reader will learn how to regain our country’s liberty and freedom. They will relate to the 20 solutions to America’s 20 worst problems that are intensified by senseless policies imposed by the political establishment. 20/20: A Clear Vision for America is a book of common-sense answers written in a style readers can readily identify with.

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Finally, an author who brings you solutions, instead of problems.

Americans have lost faith in their overreaching federal government. “We the People” don’t need to be overregulated or have their taxes misspent. Americans are victims of a crumbling economy, high prices and stagnant wages. They view government as bloated and politicians as corrupt.

They do not trust the leadership at any level. They see politicians of both parties as self-centered narcissists whose only objective is re-election. The author is like you, with one principal difference and 20 reasons for optimism. His “Vision” of America is “clear.” It is a vision of the Constitution and America the way it could be, the way it should be. The author’s eyesight is twenty-twenty.